Buenos Aires Province
He we refer to the Province of Buenos Aires – there is a separate page for the city of the same name. Buenos Aires Province is the largest covering 307,571 km2 (118,754 square miles), which is over 10% of the country and most populous Argentine province with around 17.5 million people nearly 40% of Argentina’s population. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province and the province’s capital until it was federalised. Since then, in spite of bearing the same name, the province does not include Buenos Aires city, although it does include all other parts of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The capital of the province is the city of La Plata; the metropolitan area has around one million inhabitants.
It is bordered by the provinces of Entre Ríos to the northeast, Santa Fe to the north, Córdoba to the northwest, La Pampa to the west, Río Negro to the south and west and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to the northeast. Uruguay is just across the Rio de la Plata to the northeast, and both are on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Almost the entire province is part of the Pampas geographical region, with the extreme south often considered part of the Patagonia region.
Sierra de la Ventana – ©Alejandro Gómez, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The landscape is mainly flat, with two low mountain ranges: Sierra de la Ventana (near Bahía Blanca) and Sierra de Tandil (Tandil). The highest point is Cerro Tres Picos at just over 4,000 feet. The longest river is Río Salado, which is 700 km long. As part of The Pampas, the weather of the province is strongly influenced by the ocean, with hot summers and temperate winters. Humidity is high and precipitation is abundant and distributed over the year. The Western and Southwestern regions are drier and are part of the Semi-arid Pampas ecoregion.
Agriculture in the province is renowned around the world for its productivity. The province is Argentina’s chief agricultural producer. The province’s ranching sector is diversified, and though cattle historically provided the main animal husbandry activity, Buenos Aires is also the top producer of sheep, pork, and chicken meat of the country. Equally important is the dairy industry. Crop harvests are the most diverse in the nation and have grown to record levels in recent decades. The most important crops include soybean, maize, wheat, sunflower and other oilseeds, like flax. More recently, premium wines have been produced in the Buenos Aires wine region in the south of the province. Manufacturing accounts for a fourth of the province’s output and is about 40% of the entire nation’s.
Birding Buenos Aires Province
Argentina offers some very interesting birding as it has several distinctive nature regions. The biggest number of bird species is found in the central, eastern and north eastern areas because of the direct influence by the Chaco Plains and the Amazon Basin. Consequently, the nearby Pampas have their own birding scenery that by no means should be overlooked. The sites suggested below will allow you to see many of the birds.
Otamendi Nature Reserve – ©Ulises Icardi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Otamendi Nature Reserve – Driving to the north of the city of Buenos Aires, along the Panamerican highway for about 60 km (40 miles) you will see to your right several signs showing you how to get to the nearby Otamendi Nature Reserve. This place gives the birder a chance to look at birds of the bushy highlands and the neighbouring marshy lowlands. This is the home to Straight and Curve-billed Reedhaunters and White-tipped Dove, Spectacled Tyrant, several different Hummingbirds, Finches, Warblers and Tanagers. Grey-breasted Martins and White-rumped Swallows fly all over the place while in the adjacent marshes Brown and Yellow Marshbirds and Scarlet-headed Blackbirds can be seen flying over the reeds with Giant Wood Rail walking on the water edges. Road-side Hawks are very common.
Pampas – Luján River in San Pedro, Buenos Aires Province – ©Luis Argerich from Buenos Aires, Argentina, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Pampas in the Buenos Aires province – Going out of Buenos Aires city to the west along Route 5 after driving 260 km (162 m.) you arrive to a town by the name 9 de Julio (9th of July). From there onwards are very large fields – the Pampas. They stretch on both sides of the road interspersed from time to time by small lagoons full of different ducks, Coscorobas and Black-necked swans. Great Grebe and Long-winged Harrier can be seen as well as Flamingos. Spotted Tinamous often run along the roads and Greater Rheas can be seen in the fields. Burrowing Owl and Short-eared Owl are often present as well as small flocks of Eared Doves and Monk Parakeets. Also, it is fairly easy to spot Field Flickers, Grassland Yellow Finches and, where there are trees or bushes, Siskins and Mockingbirds appear. White-browed Blackbirds and Pampas Meadowlarks can be seen getting in and out of the grasses.
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Number of bird species: 509
(As at August 2024)
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Avibase
PDF ChecklistThis checklist includes all bird species found in Buenos Aires , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.
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Birds of Argentina and the South-West Atlantic
| Mark Pearman & Juan Ignacio Areta | Helm | 2020 | Paperback | 480 pages, 199 plates with colour illustrations; 100 maps | ISBN: 9780713645798 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Birds of Buenos Aires
| By Tito Narosky, Dario Yzurieta and Christian Henschke | Vazquez Mazzini Editores | 2005 | paperback | 120 pages, colour photos, colour illustrations | out of Print | ISBN: 9789879132128 Buy this book from NHBS.com
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*Protected areas of Buenos Aires Province
InformationSatellite ViewFour sites -
NP Campos del Tuyú National Park
InformationSatellite ViewThe main attraction of Campos del Tuyú is the rare pampas deer; in fact, it is one of the few places in the Pampas where this species survive. Other inhabitants of the park include the Geoffroy's cat (Leopardus geoffroyi), capybara and over a hundred bird species. -
NR El Destino Private Reserve
WebsiteSatellite ViewOn provincial road #11, some 18 Km. past town of Magdalena, Prov. of Buenos Aires, About 2+ hours by car from Buenos Aires city -
NR Mar Chiquita
InformationSatellite ViewIt was designated a wildlife refuge in 1998 by the Government of Argentina. The refuge covers an area of 560.3 km2 -
NR Otamendi Nature Reserve
WebpageSatellite ViewThe Otamendi Nature Reserve covers an approximate area of 2,600 hectares. It is located in the Partido de Campana, Province of Buenos Aires, on the banks of the Paraná de las Palmas River, at the height of the town of Rómulo Otamendi Engineer. -
SP Ernesto Tornquist Provincial Park
InformationSatellite View...it covers a small area of the Ventania System.
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eBird
Sightings
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Alec Earnshaw
Local GuideAlec Earnshaw is available to guide you around Ribera Norte Nature Reserve and on daytrips to all the hotspots in the BA area. He can also supply maps, plans, bird lists, photos, opening times, etc. Do the illustrated virtual trail walk now! See photos of birds, native plants, etc. -
BirdQuest
Tour OperatorSOUTHERN & CENTRAL ARGENTINA – From Córdoba to Patagonia, including Hooded Grebe -
Birding Buenos Aires
Local Tour OperatorBirding BA tours are designed to fulfil your needs and therefore they are open to change. -
Birds Argentina
Local Tour OperatorThe guides are the soul of any birding tour company, as they give their own personal imprint to the quality of the tours, marking the pace, sharing their knowledge and taking good care of every situation. Having that in mind, our company makes the difference by having a staff of trained guides who behave professionally and with leadership, speak fluent English, have social skills and are passionated about birding, sharing their vast knowledge and field experience on each trip. They all use quality spotting scopes when guiding, in order to take the most of every observation. -
Buenos Días Birding
Local Tour OperatorDeparture at 07:00 AM from Buenos Aires, with a stop in Natural Reserve Costanera Sur to see some local species common there such as Nanda Parakeet, several coots, ducks and grebes unusual in the rest of the trip. -
Diego Gallegos
Local Tours & GuidingMy name is Diego Gallegos and I have been a professional birding watching guide in Buenos Aires since 1984. -
Marcelo Gavensky - Filed Naturalist
Local GuideI am a field naturalist with a vast experience birding the area of Buenos Aires and North-East Patagonia. At present time I work as a freelance birdwatching tour guide in BA and surroundings, and as a tour guide at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences "Bernardino Rivadavia" (in Buenos Aires city). I believe in a responsible eco-tourism, observing nature without disturbing it, therefore I do not use play-back while birding but I do use all my skills to look for the species using just the sight and hearing, and it works very well. -
Sandpiper
Local Tour OperatorIf you wish to travel to a particular destination, write to us at info@sandpipertours.com and we will take your request into account when putting together the calendar -
Seriema Nature Tours
Tour OperatorWe are specialized in every kind of nature oriented trips in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Antarctica. This web site will show you a selection of our best tours specialized in Birding / Birdwatching, Butterflies & Moths, Botany, Natural History, Nature Photography and Local Culture -
Trogon Tours
Tour OperatorTrogon Tours is the official nature travel company of Birding Argentina, the leading birding and nature specialists for southern South America since 2001 -
Yampu Tours
Tour OperatorLooking out for an array of bird species at the Costanera Sur Reserve near Buenos Aires, including the Great Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant and many more. Stepping through the Riparian Forest, following the trickling streams of the Otamendi National Park, seeking out intriguing birdlife.
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2016 [02 February] - Alan Tate - Buenos Aires to Los Angeles cruise
ReportSo at the end of February we arrived in Buenos Aires, the day before our huge cruise liner was due to sail. A quick look at Costanera reserve was in order, but sadly "progress" has reared it's ugly head in the ten years since our previous visit. Most of the same species are still there, but the trails have been widened, the marsh area is much more vegetated and difficult to view. Whilst this is obviously better for birds the trails are now in use to a large extent by joggers and cyclists, so many birds are now staying hidden that used to be easily viewed. -
2022 [03 March] - Dick Meijer
PDF ReportOur itinerary took us through the provinces of Jujuy, Salta and Tucumán in the northwest and the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios around the capital, encompassing a variety of ecoregions and habitats, including Puna and High Andes, Yungas, Monte Desert, Inter-Andean Dry Valleys, Chaco and Pampas. -
2022 [10 October] - Ann Gifford
PDF ReportOnce we had equipped ourselves for birding we set off in a taxi with Ricardo and a visiting nonbirding friend for Costanera Sur which was a really surprising area! It is a remarkable urban wetland of pools and reed beds set beside the gaping mouth of the famous River Plate and it was very busy with joggers, walkers, people enjoying the sunshine etc. The weather was pleasantly warm and we saw lots of birds there before lunching at one of the sandwich stalls near the entrance. I use the word sandwich loosely …. They were very good More walking afterwards and much warmer then Ricardo’s friend and I discovered we both spoke French and spent the rest of the time having a good natter in-between birding of course. A total of 61 birds were seen today of which 7 were lifers -
2022 [11 November] - Colin Reid
PDF Report...On the way I almost stepped on Eared Doves feeding on the path beside the Feral Pigeons. In the plaza – Rufous-bellied Thrush (3), Rufous Hornero (1), Picazuro Pigeon (1), House Sparrow and European Starling. In the trees finally got onto White-eyed Parakeet and in the street a Great Kiskadee and a single Chalk-browed Mockingbird...
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Los Dos Vagones
AccommodationLos Dos Vagones (The Two Boxcars), is located near the Biosphere Reserve Parque Costero del Sur, declared by UNESCO in 1984, an excellent bird watching point in Buenos Aires province, Argentina
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La Ruta natural
WebsiteLugano Lake and Costanera Sur and Norte Ecological Reserves Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
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Bryony Angell
BLOGI’m Bryony and I write and speak about birding culture. -
Marcelo Gavensky - Filed Naturalist
BLOGWelcome to my blog, BIRDING BUENOS AIRES, which is meant to give you some interesting tips about birdwatching and nature highlights of this amazing city! You will also find information about the birding tours that I offer as a birdwatching tour guide with expertise in the area.